Notifications in Groups

[Anders Juul Sondrup]

Hi all, We have tons of Groups and love it. However, when our users are creating new Groups they often don't set a checkmark in: "Send copies of all group messages and events to members' inboxes." Members being added to the Group from start will not get notifications about new conversations, but can go in manually and subscribe. If the checkmark in "Send copies..." is set AFTER members are added, the first members are not automatically notified after - but newly added members are. Is it possible to set subscription for members who were in the Group from start? I know I can remove the members and re-add them, and then notification works. However then they get another "Welcome mail" (which can be suppressed by a mail flow rule globally). Thanks in advance Regards Anders

[#2 · Accepted solution]

There's no way of forcing a new default in the UI at present. Instead of creating the group via the UI, you can create it using PowerShell and ensure that all members are subscribed that way by setting the AutoSubscribeNewMembers property to $True (New-Unified Group -AutoSubscribeNewMembers $True...). 

Alternatively, you could scan for all groups (on a regular basis) where AutoSubscribeNewMembers is set to $False and set the property to $True

[PS] C:\> Get-UnifiedGroup | ? {$_.AutoSubscribedNewMembers -eq $False } | Set-UnifiedGroup -AutoSubscribeNewMembers $True

As you might have some groups where you don't want autosubscription, a more sophisticated solution would check that a group really wants to have autosubscribe set to True before forcing the matter.

For more details on how to do all of this, see TechNet or read chapter 9 of Office 365 for IT Pros...

[#3]

Thanks Tony.
One correction, the attribute is named "AutoSubscribeNewMembers" (removed a "d") :)

Regards Anders

[#4]

Ta. I guess I shall have to remember those blinking parameter names better...

Or just write everything down in a book... oh wait, that's what I have done!

[#5]

Doesn't the following command change an existing non-subscriber to a subscriber?

add-UnifiedGroupLinks -Identity "Group Name" -LinkType Subscribers -Links Email@domain.extension 

[#6]

Yes. That command adds a user (who must already be a member of the group) to the list of members who have opted to receive notifications via email. Subscribers also have the ability to control what notifications they receive via email through OWA. Go to conversations, click the cogwheel, then Group email settings to determine what you'd like to receive.

[#7]

Perfect Tony! That is exactly what I was looking for :)
Thanks.